My Story

"I started a four-year apprenticeship at the beginning of the Sixties
with Kilgour, French & Stanbury, training with a tailor who specialized in
making coats and evening wear. I attended cutting classes one evening a week
and, once qualified, worked at Kilgour before moving on to Chapmans in
Piccadilly, and Welsh & Jeffries in St. James.

At Welsh & Jeffries, I was reunited with a very young Edward
Sexton, who was working as a cutter. I knew Edward from Kilgour where he had
been an under-cutter. Edward went on to join
Tommy Nutter and opened "Nutters"on Savile Row. I also worked
with Edward at Nutters in the early Seventies, as well as Doug Hayward at
Haywards and with other tailors of real distinction such as Peter Moore, the
Helman Brothers, Lew Fuirst, Bobby Valentine and Robbie Stanford.

Haywards was the tailor for celebrities in Doug's day, so I met - and made for - everyone
from Kirk Douglas to John Mills and the Bond film casts of the Eighties. I
have been lucky enough throughout my career to help the great and the good with
looking their best. I made a kilt jacket for Guy Ritchie to wear at his
wedding to Madonna (and a tweed suit for her that was on the cover of Vanity Fair).

Over the years, I've often moved from running my own studio to maintaining bespoke arms for
others. I ran the bespoke business at Sulka on Old Bond Street and then the
Alfred Dunhill tailoring service. More recently - 2013 - I established a
bespoke tailor in residence at London's Selfridges.

Before this, and after some time working for Dunhill, as
mentioned above, I was asked by Stella McCartney to be her bespoke tailor
at the flagship Stella McCartney London store on Bruton Street. I was there
for a decade.

I have savoured this wide range of challenges and, at the same time, always
remained independently minded. I set up my first workshop on Meard Street,
Soho, at the age of 19 (I was too young to sign the papers so my mother
stepped in). In the eighties, I took a workshop in Kingly Street and started
building up my own client base. Today, you can find me in the basement studio
at 15 Cecil Court in London's West End, which is my own independent studio.
Many of my Kingly Street clients are with me today.

And when I wasn't working?

As Doug Hayward's alterations tailor, I
had the flexibility to pursue my interest in acting. Keeping my own hours, I
was able to attend auditions and rehearsals and even go on tour. In 1976, with an
Equity Card safely in my back pocket, I was part of a theatre company that won The Scotsman newspaper's award at the Edinburgh fringe festival. Now I'm right next to the Wyndham Theatre and so
very much at home."